When the lights went down at the Empire on Friday night there was a great cheer of anticipation.

The Fairy Godmother entered and everyone 'ooohed' at her sparkly costume. But then things began to go downhill. Jean Fergusson, who I'm told is in the long-running TV series Last of the Summer Wine, sadly has no singing voice. This needn't be an obstacle, as demonstrated by Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, but the moral of this story is, if you can't sing, don't.

Darren Day as Buttons had the kids on his side at the outset, getting them to be in his gang, but threw it away as the panto progressed by too much fast talking. His impressions of Stephen Gateley and Ronan Keating went down well, but snide remarks about the media went way over the kids' heads.

Mark Two and Simon Bashford as the Ugly Sisters provided most of the laughs, and their frequent costume changes were inventive and outrageous enough to provoke cries of 'Oooh! Ugleee!' from the audience.

Highlights were the appearance of Cinderella's coach complete with two dear little snowy-white Shetland ponies, and the blackout routine with luminous puppets.

Kate Heavenor was pretty and appealing as Cinders, although her singing was all but drowned out by the backing. Tim Churchill's Prince Charming was tall and handsome with a fine voice - all you could ask for really.

I love panto, and I really wanted to enjoy Cinderella, but sadly I was disappointed.

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Published: 16/12/2003